At Your Name

Creation is alive, worshipping and responding to the Creator. The starlit heavens, the oceans below, the mountain heights, every creature great and small, have all been made for a purpose; to declare the glory of God and proclaim the works of His hands. Day and night they join together to sing this symphony of praise.

The song ‘At Your Name’ is an attempt by Phil Wickham and myself to capture this theme of creation awakened in worship, responding to God’s glory.

"At Your name 

The mountains shake and crumble

At Your name

The oceans roar and tumble"

Throughout Scripture we see picture after picture, image after image, of creation rising up in praise.

The mountains: Psalm 97:5 declares, "The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of the earth." Judges 5:5 (Deborah’s song of worship), "The mountains quaked before the Lord, the One of Sinai, before the Lord, the God of Israel." Isaiah 64:3 "When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence."

The oceans: Psalm 96:11, “Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it.” Psalms 93:3, “The seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.”

Look up at the mountain height’s, view the mystery of the ocean deep, two pictures of sheer power and strength, and yet before God, at the sound of His name they quake and bow low. They worship. The praise of creation fills the air. And we as God’s people join the song.

"Lord of all the earth

We’ll shout Your name, shout Your name

Filling up the skies with endless praise, endless praise

Yahweh, Yahweh

We love to shout Your name O Lord"

We have a special role to play in creation’s praise. As humans we are called to gather up the praise of creation and put it into words, presenting it before God. As N.T. Wright says, “To take the inanimate and seemingly inarticulate praise of creation,” and give it a voice.

We see this in the worship of heaven. The living creatures cry “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,” but it is the twenty-four elders who can give reason for their praise. They give glory and honour because they have minds to understand why God is so worthy. “You are worthy…for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” (Rev 4:11)

Rather than just ‘doing worship,’ as creation does, we humans are given the task of discerning, why we should worship. We then have a choice to voice creations praise, or ignore it. Each time we sing, we are enabling creation to praise God. We join with heaven, with multitudes of angels crying out in praise and awe to the Lord of all the earth. Yahweh, Yahweh, the God revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world in whom all things are held together.

"At Your name angels will bow

The earth will rejoice

Your people cry out"